4.  The applicant, Mr Volodymyr Ivanovich Trykhlib, was born in 1961 and lives in Nova Kahovka, the Kherson region.
5.  The facts of the case, as submitted by the parties, may be summarised as follows.
6.  Between 1997 and 2000 the applicant brought a number of proceedings (see the annexed table) against the Pivdenelektromash Company (a State-owned entity; hereafter “the Company”), seeking the recovery of salary arrears. Two sets of these proceedings were instituted in the Novokahovsky City Court, while the rest of them were brought to the Labour Disputes Commission of the “Pivdenelektromash” company (hereafter “the LDC”). The decisions given by the court and the LDC awarded the applicant the salary arrears which he claimed. These decisions were sent for execution to the Novokahovsky City Bailiffs’ Service (hereafter “the Bailiffs’ Service”).
7.  The decisions in the applicant’s favour were gradually enforced until 5 June 2000 when the Kherson Regional Court of Arbitration (hereafter “the Arbitration Court”) instituted bankruptcy proceedings against the Company and issued an injunction barring the debt recovery.
8.  On 20 June 2000 the Bailiffs’ Service stayed the execution proceedings against the Company pending the resolution of the bankruptcy case.
9.  By letter of 10 August 2000, the Supreme Court of Arbitration directed that the enforcement of salary arrears cases could continue pending the bankruptcy and rehabilitation proceedings.
10.  In a letter of 11 December 2000 the Bailiffs’ Service requested permission from the Arbitration Court to continue the enforcement proceedings. On 12 January 2001 Judge V. informed the Bailiffs that the claims based on court decisions awarding salary arrears could be paid from the proceeds of the finished products and raw materials belonging to the Company. The Judge stated that an injunction made under Article 12 of the Law of 14 May 1992 “on the Restoration of a Debtor’s Solvency or the Declaration of Bankruptcy” (hereafter “the Bankruptcy Act”) did not apply to salary payments.
11.  On 11 January 2001 the Bailiffs ordered the attachment of the Company’s accounts.
12.  On 15 January 2001 the Arbitration Court approved the rehabilitation proposal and appointed a trustee to run a bankruptcy rehabilitation programme for the Company’s business performance.
13.  On 22 March 2001 the Bailiffs’ Service, referring to the judge’s letter of 12 January 2001, requested the trustee to inform them about the existence of the finished products and raw materials suitable for attachment.
14.  However, on 17 January 2002 Judge V. reversed his opinion about attaching and selling the Company’s property, particularly as the rehabilitation proceedings were pending, the success of which, in his view, could be jeopardised if the Bailiffs’ actions continued.
15.  On 23 January 2002 the Prominvest Bank servicing the Company’s accounts refused to freeze them on the Bailiffs’ request. The bank, inter alia, rejected as irrelevant the Bailiffs’ reference to the directive of the Supreme Court of Arbitration of 10 August 2000 (see paragraph 9 above).
16.  On 14 August 2002 the Kherson Regional Bailiffs’ Service notified the applicant that by December 1999 he had been paid a total of UAH 3,477. The payment of the remainder of the awarded amount was impeded by ongoing bankruptcy litigation and the entry into force of the 2001 Law on the Introduction of a Moratorium on the Forced Sale of Property which barred the attachment and sale of the Company’s capital assets.
17.   In their observations of 1 September 2003 the Government stated that by 2003 all but two of the LDC’s decisions (15 and 29 March 2000) and both court judgments in the applicant’s favour had been executed, the outstanding debt being UAH 1,277.51[1], out of a total UAH 13,301,688.24[2] owed by the Company to its creditors. In their observations of 21 June 2004, the Government – while confirming the sum above – referred to the LDC decisions of 23 February and 29 March 2000 as having remained un-enforced.
18.  The applicant challenged these submissions, stating that the Government had failed to mention the LDC decision of 12 April 2000, which, according to him, had not been executed either. He alleged that the amount due to him totalled UAH 3,783.57[3].
19.  On 9 December 2003 the Minister for Justice issued a circular letter, informing the Bailiffs that the injunction against debt collection in bankruptcy cases did not extend to warrants of execution in salary arrears cases.
20.  On 15 January 2004 the Bailiffs’ Service resumed the execution proceedings in the applicant’s case. On 23 January and 10 February 2004 it ordered the attachment of the Company’s accounts. However, on 27 February 2004 the Kherson Regional Commercial Court, on the trustee’s appeal, quashed these decisions because the Bankruptcy Act envisaged the obligatory suspension of enforcement proceedings pending the resolution of a bankruptcy case. The exemption of salary arrears payments from a general injunction against debt recovery concerned only the Company’s current salary expenditures.
21.  The Government provided the Court with a copy of a certificate issued on 2 February 2004 by the chief accountant of the Company, attesting that the applicant had refused to accept a sum of UAH 2,000[4] offered to him by the Company as compensation for salary arrears. The applicant stated that the payment of this amount was conditioned by the withdrawal of his application before the Court.
22.  From 1998 to 1999 the applicant on several occasions unsuccessfully attempted to bring criminal proceedings against the officials of the Bailiffs’ Service for their allegedly unlawful inactivity. On 8 February 1999 the Novokahovska City Prosecutor’s Office ultimately rejected the applicant’s complaint due to the lack of evidence to justify any criminal proceedings against the Bailiffs. On 7 May 1999 the Novokahovsky City Court upheld this decision.
23.  On 12 January 2000 the Novokahovsky City Court declared inadmissible the applicant’s complaints concerning the Bailiffs’ inactivity because of his failure to comply with procedural requirements. On 15 March 2000 the applicant’s request for leave to appeal was also rejected as he had failed to comply with the procedural requirements provided by law.
24.  In December 2000 the applicant applied to the Novokahovsky City Court against the Bailiffs’ Service seeking a declaration that the enforcement proceedings in his cases were inadequate. On 8 May 2001 the court rejected the applicant’s claim, finding that no fault had been committed by the Bailiffs as the delay in the enforcement of the LDC decisions had been caused by the debtor’s lack of funds. It also took into account the 5 June 2000 injunction barring collection of the Company’s debts. On 27 June 2001 the Kherson Regional Court upheld this judgment.